14

It was almost noon by the time we made it back to the Legion building in New York. We’d been awake all night, but rather than let us sleep, Nero ordered us all to the gym. Three hours later, I stumbled into my dormitory and fell onto my bed. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up, the sun was setting. I wiggled my toes and sat up. The dormitory was empty except for Ivy, who was sitting on her bed, munching enthusiastically on the cookies inside the tin wedged between her legs.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she said with a smirk.

“Evening is more like it. Where is everyone?” I asked, stretching out my arms.

“Down at Demeter having dinner.”

I walked over to her bed and sat down beside her. “And you?”

“I prefer something sweeter.” She held out the tin. “Cookie?”

I dug in and pulled out a red velvet cookie. “Thanks.” The first bite was a revelation, the second an addiction, and by the third I was wondering where this cookie had been all my life. “This is amazing. Where did you get those cookies?”

“My mom made them.” Ivy wiped the tear from her eye, putting on a brave smile. “She is the best baker in all of New York. Maybe even in the whole world.”

“She certainly gets my vote,” I agreed, putting my arm around Ivy. “You will save her.”

She blinked back more tears. “How do you know?”

“Because I have faith.”

“I didn’t take you for the gods-worshipping type.” Her lip twitched.

“I’m not really. I don’t sing hymns in the gods’ temples and throw myself down on the ground in front of their shrines. But that’s not the faith I was talking about. The faith I’m talking about is the belief that there is good in the world. The world is full of monsters, Ivy. We have to believe that there’s hope for us, that everything will work out in the end. Otherwise, we’re already lost.”

“My mother would like you.” Ivy smiled at me. “In fact, she already does.”

“Oh?”

“I wrote to her about you. About how you’ve been helping me. She’s happy I found such a good friend. Someday, I hope you can meet her.”

“I’d like that,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Let’s make a pact: you and I. Whichever of us makes it to level seven first will heal your mother.”

Her expression brightened. “Really? You’ll help me?”

“I will always help you, Ivy. And if I make it to level seven first, I will heal her.”

“Oh, you will make it. I’m sure you will. You’re strong.”

“Well, I am stubborn. I’m not sure about strong. I feel like I’m one of the weakest ones here.”

“Not according to Colonel Sexy Angel. I heard him talking to Harker on the train ride back.”

“What did they say?” I tried to keep my tone casual, even though I was burning to know.

“He told Harker to stop helping you so much because you’re very strong, and you’ll never reach your potential if he holds your hand the whole way.”

I snorted. “Nero just wants to break me. It’s his new personal goal.”

“Or maybe he wants to hold your hand himself.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“I don’t think he’s much of a touchy-feely kind of guy.”

“Leda, everyone is talking about what happened last night. How you blazed across the Black Plains to rescue Nero from a vampire army. Half of the Legion thinks you’re really brave. The other half thinks you’re out of your mind.”

“And what do you think?” I asked her.

“That you’re a little of both, of course.” She paused, a slow smile twisting her lips. “Harker is saying you’re a hero.”

“Whatever that means.”

She shrugged. “Apparently that you have the perfect balance of bravery and insanity.”

I laughed. “At least someone is happy with me. I swear Nero is still thinking up a way to punish me.”

“For saving him?”

“For disobeying orders.”

“Well, he is an angel,” she said, as though that explained everything. It probably did.

Or did it? After our discussions last night, I was beginning to realize Nero was more human than I’d thought. I wondered if he realized that too. Then again, maybe he was in denial. He probably saw humanity as a weakness.

A knock sounded on the door. Weird. In the whole month that we’d called this our room, no one had once knocked on our door. I was not counting the gigantic spitballs the brats had launched at it from across the hall. Honestly, I sometimes felt like I was living in a high school.

I walked to the door, my surprise only growing when I opened it to find Harker standing on the other side.

“I need to talk to you,” he said to me. “Alone.”

“I’ll be right back,” I told Ivy, then followed him into the hall, closing the door behind me.

He stood opposite me, his arms folded over his chest in a way that accentuated the muscles of both. But I wasn’t here to admire his physique. He obviously had something to say to me. His mouth was hard, set, like he didn’t know where to begin. I’d never seen him so nervous before—if I could even call it that. Harker hated to be the bad guy. He was probably just getting himself psyched up to say something I wouldn’t like. Maybe he was here to deliver Nero’s punishment.

“How’s Nero doing?” I asked, inviting him to get on with it. Dragging it out would just hurt more.

“All right. Better than all right, in fact. That’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

“Nero is completely healed from his ordeal last night. It’s nothing short of miraculous. From his report, his captors drained him of magic and blood. He was in a sad state when you found him. It should have taken him a week or at least an appointment with a good healer to be back to normal. And yet here he is in perfect health less than half a day later.”

“He’s an angel,” I pointed out.

“After the vampires were through with him, he would have been too drained to heal himself.”

I shrugged. “Magic works in mysterious ways.”

Harker gave me a hard look. “He drank from you, didn’t he?”

“What did he say?”

“I’m asking you.”

But I was keeping my mouth shut. I had the feeling Nero wasn’t supposed to have done that. Had he not protested that it wasn’t standard procedure?

Harker sighed. “Nero won’t admit to it either. It must be the first time he’s ever lied to the Legion. Don’t worry,” he said quickly. “I won’t tell.”

“Is drinking from another Legion soldier against the rules?”

“Not exactly, but it is frowned upon. Especially a blood exchange between an angel and a first level soldier. The disconnect in power is too great. You drank from him too. Back before we left for the mission, after you’d sipped from the Nectar.”

I didn’t say anything. Maybe I was starting to learn the value of keeping my mouth shut.

“Nero is struggling with his inner darkness. I hope you know what you’re doing, Leda.”

Calli had said the same thing.

“Nero is your friend,” I said.

“Yeah, he is. But he’s also an angel. When you get your wings, you change. Like even more than you change when you first join the Legion.”

“So you don’t want to be an angel?” I asked him.

“Oh, I do. More than anything.” A happy smile spread across his mouth. “And you?”

“I’m not sure I’m angel material.”

“Oh, I think that you are. You’re resilient.”

“But I have trouble doing what I’m told.”

He laughed. It was a beautiful sound, so encouraging, so full of good intentions. In the past couple weeks, I’d come to really appreciate Harker’s laugh.

“Indeed you do,” he said. “There’s a party in Heaven tonight.”

“I don’t think I’m invited.”

“Heaven, the Legion club,” he clarified, laughing again. I could just listen to that laugh all night. “You should come and unwind. That’s really important after a mission like the one last night.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I look forward to seeing you there.” He took my hand, lifting it to his lips, then with a wink, he turned and walked down the hall.

As soon as I stepped back into my dormitory, Ivy practically pounced on me.

“And?” she asked excitedly. “What did Harker want?”

“He told me about a party at Heaven tonight.”

“Harker asked you out?” She practically squealed.

“Uh, I don’t think so. He just told me about the party.”

But Ivy wouldn’t hear of it. “Heaven is a VIP club for Legion members, level five and above only. I’d give my right arm to go there.”

“Then you should come with me,” I declared. “But no need to cut off your arm.”

Ivy grinned at me. “Now let’s pick out what you’re going to wear on your date.”

“It’s not a date,” I reminded her as she pushed me toward the closet.

“Honey, by the time I’m through with you, you’ll have Harker eating out of your hand.”

And on that foreboding note, she began pulling clothes out of the closet.

* * *

When Ivy and I arrived at the club, the bouncer waved us right in. He didn’t even need to check the list. Harker must have talked to him personally, something Ivy was quick to point out. She accompanied her statement with fluttering eyelashes and lots of loud kissing noises, but her teasing died out as soon as we were hit with the full splendor of Heaven.

“This is amazing,” Ivy gasped.

A circular, three-hundred-sixty degree bar sat at the center of the room, lit up by an array of magic lights that changed color every few seconds. All around the bar island, the multi-tier dance floor stretched to the far corners of the room. There were people dancing on the ground, on the platforms, and even on the stairs that led up to the second level. I knew most of them had to be members of the Legion, but no one was wearing a uniform today. They were dressed just as Ivy and I were.

Well, maybe not entirely as we were. Ivy had missed her calling as a fashionista. She’d put me in a green halter top that made my pale hair stand out beautifully against it. I was wearing it down tonight. Usually super-straight, Ivy had styled it until it took on a waved bounce. My skirt was black and mini, short enough to be flirtatious without degrading into obscene. My boots were over-the-knee, sleek and sexy and comfortable enough to walk in—or to dance in.

Ivy wore a tiny black sleeveless mini dress and a silver gemstone necklace. Her crimson hair, parted on the side, bounced with enviable volume as she walked to the bar with me in her silver sandals. We’d only just sat down when a man in a very suave jacket swooped in and asked her to dance. She gave me an excited wave as she followed him onto the dance floor.

Smiling, I ordered a pineapple juice. When I turned back to look across the dance floor, I was surprised to find Nero sitting beside me.

“You have got to stop doing that,” I told him.

“Doing what?”

“Sneaking up on people.”

“If you opened up your senses, you would notice your surroundings better,” he replied.

Ouch. A lecture. Really? Then again, I wasn’t surprised. This was Colonel Hard Ass after all. He was the only one in the whole club wearing a uniform. He probably didn’t believe in winding down.

“Wow, this is fun.” I drank down my pineapple juice, wishing I’d ordered something harder. “Are you here to let your hair down, Colonel?”

“No.”

Ok, then. “Harker talked to me.”

“About the blood,” he said.

“Yes. He said it’s a big no-no according to the Legion.”

“It is frowned upon.”

“But not forbidden.”

“No,” he agreed. “The Legion recognizes that its members are human and have needs.”

Of course. The ability wasn’t called Vampire’s Kiss for nothing.

“I knew you were human under all those feathers,” I said, grinning at him.

“Yes.”

“Harker says you’re fighting your inner darkness.”

He leaned in closer, his voice dipping. “We all—each of us touched by magic—are fighting that darkness. With me…it’s stronger.”

“Because you are an angel?”

“Because of who I was before,” he said. “My father was an angel. A fallen angel.” He paused to let that sink in.

Sometimes angels went bad and joined the demons. Sometimes they went crazy and set off on mad killing sprees. I wondered which kind Nero’s father was.

“My mother was also an angel of the Legion.”

Wow. There were a few people with one angel parent, but I’d never met one with two. It was no wonder Nero was so powerful.

“When my father went rogue, they assigned my mother to hunt him down,” he said.

“She hunted the man she loved?” I asked.

“She hunted him because she loved him. And because she loved me,” he said. “My father came for me one night and tried to take me away. My mother fought him. He killed her right in front of my eyes.”

I set my hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“I was too angry for sorrow. I ran at my father. I fought him. And I killed him.”

“You killed an angel?”

“He’d already been severely weakened by his fight with my mother. Otherwise, I never could have done it. As it was, I was lucky. I knew even then that if I didn’t kill him, he would kill me.”

“How old were you?”

“Ten.”

“I cannot imagine what that must have been like.”

“That day, that moment, marked me for life. It made me who I am today.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger,” he told me for only the two millionth time. It was one of his favorite lines. “You must learn to keep going, to have a willpower that doesn’t die.”

“I am pretty stubborn.”

“I see something in you.” He met my eyes, and it was as though I could look through to his soul—to see his pain behind the wall he’d built up around himself. “I don’t know what it is. That same darkness that I have in me maybe. Being stubborn isn’t enough. You also need to learn to control the urges that plague us all.”

“Why do you care? I thought you wanted to expose all my secrets.”

“I am a patient man. If you die now because you’re not strong enough or you succumb to the bloodlust, then I will never find out.”

I laughed, lifting my glass to him. We sat there in silence as I watched Ivy. She was dancing with three guys at once. Something about seeing her undiluted happiness made me bold. Or maybe it was the fact that Nero had just spilled his soul to me.

“Want to dance?” I asked him.

He looked at me for a moment, clearly torn. Prudence won out. “I don’t think that would be appropriate.” He stood. “I must go.”

Then without another word, he walked across the room to join Captain Somerset. And I just watched him like an idiot.

“I’ve been wondering what’s between them,” Harker said as he sat down beside me. He grinned. “Neither one will admit a thing.”

“Oh?”

I was trying not to let that bother me. What did I care if Nero liked someone else? It’s not like he was good for me. I suppressed a shudder as I remembered the vicious way he’d torn up the vampires back in that castle. I was not going to fall for the bad boy. Not this time. It only ever ended in heartache.

“Come on,” Harker said, taking my hand. “Let’s dance.”

Harker was clearly not worried about what was ‘appropriate’, and he wasn’t trying to slowly kill me. Plus, he had a body to die for, a soul of pure kindness, and he actually knew how to have a good time. He didn’t put on his uniform to go to a club. He was wearing dark jeans and a fitted black shirt with translucent black short sleeves. The front zipper was slid down just far enough to hint at the rock-hard physique beneath.

“I’m glad you could come,” he said as he set his hands on my hips.

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it, not if you might be here.”

I blushed. Harker was handsome and so human, so approachable. And he really cared about me. I could have an actual conversation with him, one that didn’t immediately deteriorate into a verbal sparring match.

“You look beautiful tonight, Leda.” He lifted his hand to brush a strand of hair from my face.

“Thanks.” I blushed again. “You look nice too.”

His hand curled around my back. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

His arm wrapped around me, he led me from the dance floor and up the winding staircase into an opulent lounge of lush sofas and antique carpets. I paused at the top to look over the handrails at the flashing and pulsing scene below.

Harker’s hand slid around mine. His smile widening, he moved us onto one of the sofas. Most of the others were already occupied. Groups small and large filled them, talking and laughing and dripping tiny glowing drops into one another’s mouths.

“What are those drops?” I asked Harker.

“Just a little magical something to help people unwind,” he said. “Life at the Legion is tough, full of hard battles. We stare death in the face almost every day. If we don’t wind down every so often, we explode.”

“Does Nero ever wind down?” I asked. The words just came out.

I regretted it immediately as disappointment crinkled Harker’s brow. I was here with him. I shouldn’t be dwelling on Nero.

“Nero doesn’t unwind,” Harker answered despite his disappointment, thereby proving he was a better person than I’d ever be. “That’s his problem. That’s why he loses control sometimes. I hope you won’t make the same mistake.” He lifted the vial with the glowing liquid to me.

I stole a glance at the sofa across the aisle from us. Ivy sat there with one of the men she’d danced with downstairs. She opened her mouth, and as he poured a single drop onto her tongue, a look of pure rapture spread across her face. She looked so happy, so free. I yearned for a moment like that, a moment of pure happiness in this dark world. I turned back to Harker, opening my mouth.

A satisfied grin stretched his lips. “Good.”

The liquid hit my tongue, a drop of ecstasy exploding inside my mouth. Dizzy with magic and the unraveling strands of my own mind, I swayed to the side. Harker’s hands caught my arms, leaning me against the back of the sofa.

“Whoa, there,” he said. “You’re sensitive for a first-timer.”

“The effect grows more intense with time?”

“As your magic level grows.” His lips were only inches from mine.

“More please.”

He chuckled, low and sexy. “You’re adventurous, aren’t you?”

He poured a few drops into his own mouth, then gave me two more. Lightning flashed across my body, liquid and hot. Through the cloud of euphoria, I saw Ivy climb onto the man’s lap, moaning as he bit her.

Harker brushed his hand across my cheek, returning my attention to him. “Leda,” he said, his voice thick, deep.

“Yes?”

“I have a confession to make.” His mouth dipped to my neck, trailing a line of burning kisses across my skin.

My head was swimming. “Oh?”

“I’m not the man you think I am.” His hand slid up my leg, catching on the hemline of my skirt. “I’m not selfless and kind.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Oh, but it is. I haven’t been helping you all this time because I’m good. I was helping you for my own selfish reasons. I wanted you to like me.”

“I do like you.” I gasped as his fangs traced up my neck.

“How much do you like me?” he asked, teasing my pulsing, throbbing vein between his teeth.

“Oh, gods, just bite me already, or I’ll bite you.”

He looked at me, a silver sheen sliding across his blue eyes. “As the lady commands.”

Harker dipped his mouth again, but before his fangs could break my skin, a fist flashed before my eyes, knocking him off of me. I snapped my head around to find Nero standing over us.

Harker jumped to his feet, his eyes alight with magic. “You’re spoiling my fun, Nero.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Nero ground out, cold and cruel.

“Showing the lady a good time. Something you were apparently unwilling to do.”

Nero’s jaw clenched up, and it was then, as I blinked back the effects of the magic drops, that I realized what was going on all around me. No one was watching us, despite the big scene Nero and Harker were making. The other sofas’ occupants were too busy biting one another and making out. Dear gods.

I stumbled to my feet, trying not to trip over them. My head was swirling with a thousand twirling lights. “What is in those drops?” I demanded, looking at Harker.

“Nectar. Diluted down,” he added quickly. Guiltily?

“You saw her strong reaction to it before. You shouldn’t have given her more,” Nero said, anger humming against his cool facade.

“Her reaction? You mean how she bit you and would have had her way with you if I hadn’t stepped in.” Harker laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, I saw that all right. I saw how you didn’t even try to stop her. You wanted her. And you think you have the right to judge me? At least I gave her a choice of whether to take the drops instead of pouring it down her throat.”

“That was part of the initiation ceremony,” Nero said coolly. “And if you weren’t so high on Nectar, you would realize that.”

“You’re not the epitome of sobriety yourself,” replied Harker.

I looked at Nero, surprise hitting me when I realized Harker was right. Nero’s pupils were dilated. He’d sampled the Nectar tonight too. What had driven Mr. Straight-and-Narrow to do such a thing?

“I found myself in need of calming down,” he told me.

Oops. Had I asked myself that out loud? I really needed to stay away from that Nectar.

“Why? Calm down about what?” I asked. I just couldn’t stop talking.

Nero’s eyes flickered from Harker to me. Oh. He didn’t like that we were hanging out. I wasn’t even sure what to think about it. It’s not like Nero had wanted to hang out with me. He had walked away from me.

“Are you all right, Leda?” Nero asked me.

“I’m fine.”

“Good.”

He spun around and punched Harker. They rolled and kicked and grappled like there was no tomorrow. Their fight finally drew the attention of the drop-licking, blood-sucking, lip-locked people all around us.

Nero tackled Harker against the handrail. Harker grabbed him, pulling and heaving. The two men fell over the barrier, spilling down into the club below. I ran for the stairs, but they were already up and fighting again. Their punches were sharp, their kicks crisp. Every movement was pure perfection. It was like watching two masters at their best.

If only they hadn’t been trying to kill each other.

As soon as the fight had landed down below, everyone had scrambled to the edges of the dance floor. They were watching Nero and Harker with a mix of fear and awe. Neither of them was in his right mind right now, thanks to the Nectar. Someone had to stop them before one of them killed the other. I looked around for this special someone, but no one looked prepared to step into the middle of the brawl.

I ran down the stairs, trying to settle my scrambled mind as I hurried toward them. I cut through the air of raging male hormones and magic-induced insanity, planting myself right between them. For one terrifying moment, I feared they wouldn’t stop, that they’d plow right through me in their mission to tear each other apart. But they did stop.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I demanded, my voice echoing through the silent room. I almost cringed at the volume of my own voice, but I couldn’t afford to show any weakness now. I needed to hold my ground.

“Get out of the way, Leda,” Nero said, the timbre of his voice a warning to one and all that they’d best turn around and run for their lives now.

One by one, the people all around us did just that. The club emptied. Soon it was just me and the raging twins. If I’d known what was best for me, I would have left too and just let them fight to the death. But I couldn’t do that. I was pissed off as hell at the pair of them right now, but I did not want either of them to die.

“You two need to get your heads on straight,” I told them, my eyes burning with anger. They’d probably taken on that creepy silver-blue glow too. Good. It would show them I meant business.

Or maybe not. They continued to glare at each other through me. I had the feeling that if I took just one step back, they’d start going at it again.

“You are best friends,” I reminded them. “You do not want to kill each other. And especially not over who drugged me first or more or whatever. I am a big girl, and I can take care of myself. And I will take care of the two of you if you don’t stand down this instant.”

Nero snorted. “She actually believes she could take us both on,” he told Harker.

“Of course she does.” Harker grinned. “She’s optimistic.”

“Delusional rather.”

“That too.”

They chuckled at my expense, but at least they were lowering their fists. I watched them exchange a silent glance, then walk off together toward the exit.

“You two aren’t going off to kill each other, are you?” I called out after them.

“Go home, Pandora,” Nero called back, a hint of amusement touching his tone. “Tomorrow morning training starts anew.”

Oh goody.